(1). Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a disk apparatus wherein one of a CD-ROM and a disk cartridge is held on a disk tray at a loaded position and reproduction or recording for a related disk is carried out by using a pickup unit.
(2). Description of the Related Art
An optical disk is inserted into an optical disk drive, and the optical disk drive reads information from or writes information to the optical disk by using an optical pickup unit. The optical pickup unit emits a light beam to the disk and receives reflection beams from the disk to which the emission beam is applied. When the optical disk drive is operating in a reading mode, the optical pickup unit detects pits in a track of the disk from the reflection beams in order to read data from the disk.
Currently, there are two major types of optical disk drives: a read-only type and a rewritable type. The read-only optical disk drives read information from an optical disk, such as a CD (compact disk) or a CD-ROM (compact disk read-only memory). The rewritable optical disk drives can read information from and write information to an optical disk. Among the rewritable optical disk drives are a write-once disk system and an erasable disk system. The write-once disk system accesses an optical disk such as a CD-R (compact disk-recordable), and can write data to the disk once only. The erasable disk system accesses an optical disk, such as a PD (phase-change material disk) or a CD-RW (compact disk-rewritable), and can write data to the disk many times.
Existing optical disk drives are provided for accessing only one of the above-mentioned optical disk types. In order to allow both the read-only disk (CD, CD-ROM) and the rewritable disk (CD-R, PD, CD-RW) to be accessed, it has been necessary to use two or more of the existing optical disk drives in combination. Recently, in order to eliminate such inconvenience, development has started on an optical disk apparatus in which either one of the read-only disk and the rewritable disk can be held on a disk tray at a loaded position and reproduction or recording with respect to a related disk can be carried out. A conventional disk apparatus of this type is known. In the conventional disk apparatus, one of a CD-ROM and a PD disk cartridge can be held on a disk tray at a loaded position and reproduction or recording with respect to a related disk can be carried out.
FIG. 19 shows the conventional disk apparatus of the above-mentioned type, wherein one of the CD-ROM and the disk cartridge is capable of being held on a disk tray at a loaded position.
As shown in FIG. 19, in the conventional disk apparatus, a turntable 2 and an optical pickup unit 3 are provided on a chassis 1. An optical disk (not shown) is clamped with and rotated by the turntable 2. A disk tray 4 is movably supported on the chassis 1, and one of the CD-ROM (not shown) and the disk cartridge (not shown) is inserted in the disk tray 4. The disk tray 4 is arranged such that the tray 4 is movable relative to the chassis 1 between a disk-loaded position and a disk-change position.
The disk tray 4 has a double-tray structure including an inner tray 4a on which the CD-ROM is placed and an outer tray 4b on which the disk cartridge is placed. The inner tray 4a is provided within the outer tray 4b such that the inner tray 4a is vertically movable between a lowered position and a raised position.
In the conventional disk apparatus, when the disk cartridge is inserted in the tray 4, the disk cartridge is placed on the inner tray 4a. The inner tray 4a serves as a holding surface on which the disk cartridge is held. Since the cartridge is snugly fitted in the outer tray 4b, the inner tray 4a has a cut-out portion 4c provided at a front end portion of the inner tray 4a, in order to allow an operator to easily take the cartridge out of the tray 4.
When taking the cartridge out of the tray 4 at the disk-change position, the operator has to manually raise a front edge of the cartridge from the outer tray 4b by pushing upward the front edge of the cartridge from the cut-out portion 4c of the inner tray 4a. For the conventional disk apparatus, the operator takes the cartridge out of the tray 4 in this manner.
In the conventional disk apparatus, the inner tray 4a includes a first circular recess 4al in which an optical disk having an 8-cm diameter is fitted, and a second circular recess 4a2 in which another optical disk having a 12-cm diameter is fitted.
In the disk tray 4 of the conventional disk apparatus, the inner tray 4a is set at the raised position within the outer tray 4b due to a actuating force of a spring (not shown). When the CD-ROM is inserted in the tray 4, the CD-ROM is supported on the inner tray 4a at the raised position. On the other hand, when the disk cartridge is inserted in the tray 4, the inner tray 4a is vertically moved to the lowered position by the cartridge. The disk cartridge is supported on the outer tray 4b, and the inner tray 4a at the lowered position is placed beneath the bottom of the cartridge within the outer tray 4b.
In the conventional disk apparatus, a support plate 5 is provided on the disk tray 4, and an upper area located above the chassis 1 is enclosed by the support plate 5. A shutter lever 6 is provided on a bottom surface of the support plate 5. The shutter lever 6 serves to open a shutter in the disk cartridge when the cartridge is inserted in the tray 4 and the tray 4 is moved from the disk-change position to the disk-loaded position.
As described above, in the conventional disk apparatus, when taking the cartridge out of the tray 4, the operator has to manually raise the front edge of the cartridge from the outer tray 4b by pushing upward the front edge of the cartridge from the cut-out portion 4c of the inner tray 4a. This operation has been inconvenient for the operator. It is desired to provide increased convenience to the operator with respect to the disk apparatus of the above type so that the operator can more easily take the disk cartridge out of the disk tray.
Further, in order to form the cut-out portion 4c in the inner tray 4a, it is necessary to make a thickness of the inner tray 4a large enough to ensure a sufficient strength of the inner tray 4a. For this reason, it is difficult that an entire thickness of the tray 4 be reduced while a sufficient strength of the tray 4 is ensured. This makes it difficult to provide a small-thickness structure for an optical disk drive installed in a personal computer. Recently, notebook-size personal computers having a built-in optical disk drive as standard equipment have been widespread, and there is a demand for reducing an entire thickness of the built-in optical disk drive for use in the notebook-size personal computers.